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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28451601">Bite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TundrainAfrica/pseuds/TundrainAfrica'>TundrainAfrica</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Married Hange Zoë/Levi, Mommy Hange, a pinch of action, daddy levi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:36:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,420</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28451601</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TundrainAfrica/pseuds/TundrainAfrica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>To say the least, Hange's last month of pregnancy turned out a little bumpier than what Levi would would have liked it to be.</p><p>A New Year's piece of Levihan Domestic Fluff. Happy New Year everyone!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Levi/Hange Zoë</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>155</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Levihan Domestic Verse (Tundrainafrica)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bite</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I know I've been writing a lot of fluff lately but yeah, just me coping with this being my first ever New Year's stuck at home with our family not together this year. Sorry for my French but Fuck Covid.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The house was quiet.</p><p>But that's how Levi wanted it. Hange was eight months pregnant after all. When she was carrying a fragile growing mini person inside her, he would rather she stayed quiet anyway. The peace and calm of the household was an improvement from the clack of rock to wood and her humming. It was a sign at least that Hange was finally getting the well needed rest that came with carrying an extra human.</p><p>But it was just a little too quiet. Too quiet for it to ever be comfortable for Levi. Levi had to note that it was past noon and Hange should have been up, playing around with whatever rocks she had on the workbench or at least sitting on the sofa reading a random book from the bookshelf in the dining room.</p><p><em>She probably stayed up late last night.</em> Levi thought to himself. That thought was quickly shot down when Levi recalled that she had actually slept much earlier than him.</p><p><em>Of course, she's eight months pregnant.</em> Levi attempted to scramble for other reasons for that silence as he started to give in to the nagging worry. When Hange was home, she was always making noise. Levi found it almost eerie that the noise levels were down to when Hange was out for work. All he could hear were the clatter of pans as he placed them on the sink and the simmer of the fire as he started to prepare lunch.</p><p><em>After I finish making lunch I'll check on her. </em>Levi promised himself.</p><p>Levi had been up since five and had not entered the room again since then. It was for good reason. Hanger was notably crankier than usual, particularly in the mornings. Carrying an extra human to term had her having rough days <em>every day</em> and Levi just wanted to be a little more careful with his cards.</p><p>He turned on the radio by the kitchen window. Having an extra voice at least even if it wasn't Hange worked to alleviate some of that discomfort. He had started on reorganizing one of the cupboards when the radio whirred to life.</p><p>Hearing the man on the radio was oddly comforting. He never did leave the house as often as Hange so the radio had been his anchor to real life. With Hange home more often, he never needed to turn it on, Hange always had her own personal talkshow going on when she wasn’t asleep. Either that or he was too busy worrying about her to even have time to focus on the happenings that day.</p><p>For the first time in so long, he had the time. <em>Enjoy it while you can. </em>Levi told himself as he started to ponder what the news of the day would be. Having lived a long life constantly being chased in the underground that eventually evolved into a life killing man eaten giants, Levi found listening to the societal problems that plagued Paradis almost calming.</p><p>He had been dubbed ‘humanity’s strongest soldier’ and had been fighting man eating beasts and preventing the fall of humanity for a huge part of his life. Yet at present, most problems that made their way to Paradis were at least solvable by the average conscripted soldier or the average office worker. More than half the time, no one was actually in danger of dying. A significant improvement from the Paradis he grew up in.</p><p>Listening to the happenings on the radio, he was reminded of the joys of retirement. He indulged himself by listening to the last few parts of a radio drama and news on preparations for the fireworks festival that night.</p><p><em>The world is so peaceful.</em> Levi had been daring enough to think that statement to himself.</p><p>“Breaking news!” It was as if the radio had sentience and read his mind, wanting to prove Levi wrong as if to say ‘the world will never be completely peaceful.’ “We just received word of a hostage situation in one of the warehouses in the Southern port.”</p><p>A wave of panic ended up running through him. It could have been from the tone of the reporter or Levi’s own instincts. <em>Calm down. You’re not a soldier anymore. This isn’t your problem. </em>It wasn’t at all new for Levi to react like that internally. He had an unnaturally strong sense of urgency having lived a life of danger for too long. He willfully brushed it off and attempted to focus instead on cutting the vegetables for the soup he was making for lunch.</p><p>“More information is coming in…”</p><p>Having spent most of his days alone in the house with nothing but a radio for a companion, Levi had mastered the art of multitasking, being able to pick up all the details of the radio article over the sound of the pots and pans, the sound of plates being stacked or the whistle of the kettle.</p><p>
  <em>A gang car jacked one of the buses on the way out of the Southern port.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Gang holds hostage in the port fireworks which were slated to be sent to the capital for Paradis’ first ever New Years Celebration...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The fireworks were ordered more than a year ago…</em>
</p><p>Levi knew enough at least to understand what would have pushed people to steal them. Hange had mentioned it once during one of her rambles. She had been the one who had suggested they buy fireworks from Marley and celebrate New Years more than a year ago. It was apparently a highly anticipated festivity every year in Marley and having been so excited at the idea of celebrating it in Paradis, Hange went overboard with the organization. They had sent people to Marley to train with handling fireworks and had gone over multiple displays before deciding on one, which ended up being one of the more expensive options.</p><p><em>But it will be beautiful. </em>Those words echoed once again in Levi’s head. He recalled seeing stars in her eyes as she said it.</p><p>Eventually Armin had taken over and with Hange’s hand out of the project, Levi had forgotten about it until he heard the details of the hostage situation over the radio. <em>I wonder what Armin’s doing about it. </em>A food for thought he reflected on while he prepared the ingredients for boiling.</p><p>“The police are assessing the situation as we speak.” Levi was aware they couldn’t give the exact details, the hostage takers could be listening in.</p><p>Another report came in a few seconds later. "The escaped hostages have confirmed the hostage takers do not have a radio on site. No chance of them listening in."</p><p>Levi found himself silently commending the escaped hostages for noting such a small detail. He hadn’t expected civilians to be that sharp especially in such a stressful situation.</p><p>“We escaped through the vents with one brave woman’s help but she had to stay behind.”</p><p>“How many are left inside the warehouse?”</p><p>“Just her.”</p><p>“Couldn’t she escape with you?”</p><p>“No sir. She doesn’t fit.”</p><p>“Doesn’t fit?”</p><p>“She looked like she was at least eight months pregnant.”</p><p><em>A pregnant woman in a hostage situation? </em>Levi’s ears perked up at that. His thoughts flew to whoever that woman’s poor husband could have been. He had his own pregnant wife after all so he was quick to sympathize. Despite not believing in a god, he found himself sending prayers to that phantom husband. <em>I hope someone at least informed him.</em></p><p>Levi kept his attention on the radio news as he mixed the ingredients and the spices for the soup.</p><p>“We have to get her out soon then.”</p><p>“She said she’d be fine. She even called the hostage takers amateurs.”</p><p>Levi was familiar with hostage situations though to know it was in their interest to keep their hostages alive. When taking the risk though, losing meant losing a life and Levi found himself sympathizing with whoever was left. <em>Maybe I should call Armin? After I wake up Hange. </em></p><p>“But she could end up dead.”</p><p>“She said they wouldn’t.. On the off chance they did, she could defend herself.” Despite having just come out of a hostage situation and seeming concerned about a pregnant companion they had left behind, the woman talking on the radio seemed convinced that the pregnant woman could take care of herself.</p><p><em>How can an eight month pregnant woman defend herself though? </em>Levi was starting to get a little more interested in the identity of the pregnant woman. There were two possibilities, she was a pregnant woman with a screw loose in her brain or she was an actual genius, Maybe he could ask Hange to ask Armin about it and they could learn a thing or two from her.</p><p>“She used to be in the military… And apparently had dealt with worse situations before."</p><p><em>So she was from the military?</em> The military was a small community and Levi was sure he should know who it was. <em>Was anyone pregnant though… Other than Hange? </em></p><p>Levi had racked his brain for a few seconds considering all the possibilities. Except one.</p><p>He did not know how many minutes he had spent considering the other possibilities before moving on to the exception. Yet that possibility was just outrageous. So outrageous that Levi had to ask Hange even if it meant waking her up from her nap.</p><p><em>Sorry for interrupting your sleep Hange, I just heard about an eight month pregnant woman who used to be part of the military and got taken hostage in a warehouse by the port. Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t you. </em>Levi rehearsed his lines quickly as he made his way to the bedroom. It sounded ridiculous the second time he repeated it to himself. At that point though, it seemed worth it.</p><p>Levi’s heart started to beat faster as he entered the room, he could almost hear it. It could have been from the fear of waking up that lump on the other side of the bed or the fear of finding out it was just a pillow.</p><p>He never found out where that fear came from. It turned out the pillow was just a lump. Before Levi could even process his bodies’ reaction to the suspense and that harsh realization, his body went into survival mode. It came as a torrent of unintelligible emotions reminiscent of his fights against the beast titan and the invasion of Marley.</p><p>Just like it did then, his survival mode switched on and his instincts took over. Levi’s body was moving much faster than his brain. He called a taxi to take him to the port.</p><p>It was an option ten times more expensive than the shuttle but the price was the last thing on his mind.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The crowds on the port were large and Levi was disappointed to find out that many of the people there were uniformed policemen. He pushed his way through the crowd clutching one of the men in the front by their collar. “Why the hell are you not moving? You probably outnumber the hostage takers at this rate.”</p><p>“But sir… we don’t have orders. And there’s one more civilian inside.” The uniformed policeman who had answered Levi seemed a little too unsure and inexperienced that just listening to him made Levi miss his comrades in the survey corps all the more. That man looked like he had never fought in his life.</p><p>“Fuck this, I’m going in.”</p><p>“Sir are you sure? I think those men inside are armed with some very high end guns. We can never be too careful.”</p><p><em>Armed with what? </em>Levi had been pitted against guns, thunder spears, man-eating giants and the king of all these founding titans. Despite the big ham the policeman was making those weapons out to be, Levi was not nervous at all.</p><p>He ran towards the building and in that few seconds vacillated between breaking through the window and bursting through the door. He had to act fast. Behind him, he could hear soldiers and policemen screaming at him to stay back and if he allowed himself a brief moment to stop and consider the situation, they might actually catch up.</p><p>Levi took a glance at one of the windows as he ran. The guns were on the table. <em>Their guard was down. </em>Levi found himself all the more disappointment at the policemen as he did. <em>How the fuck is anybody not noticing that. </em></p><p>He crashed through the window where he had seen the guns on the table.</p><p>He never gave them time to pick up the guns. Even during that small moment Levi had allowed them as he took stock of the situation, they did not even attempt to dive for a weapon.</p><p>Levi and Hange did not have many things that could have served as a weapon in the house. Having only allowed himself a few seconds to get ready, Levi used the time to turn off the stove and cover the pot he had used to cook the soup. The only thing that he had managed to grab then was the vegetable knife that sat on the board he had used to cut vegetables that morning.</p><p>Levi though had worked with knives for years. He had also mastered the art of looking menacing even with the most mundane household objects as weapons. Even if he didn’t look menacing and the five hostage takers weren’t frozen on the spot, Levi was sure he still had enough agility left inside him to slit all their throats before they could shoot the gun. Preserving life had always been part of his principles though and he found himself giving the men the luxury to talk.</p><p>“Please! Don’t kill us!” One of the men begged as he fell to his knees. The others soon followed suit.</p><p>“You take hostages and you expect us not to attack?”</p><p>“We just needed money. Just give us money for the fireworks and we’ll be off your backs.” The first man who had kneeled explained. He looked to be their leader.</p><p>Levi kept his eye on the weapons on the table as he listened to the men. “This is a crime. I should be turning you in.” He had expected that to at least provoke the men. Alas, he had expected too much from them. All they did was kneel on the floor in defeat, their eyes downcast.</p><p>He approached the guns on the table and he could hear the men whimper as he did.</p><p>“The guns are broken,” one man said nervously. “We couldn’t get them to shoot.”</p><p><em>Of course you won’t get them to shoot. They need to be loaded first. </em>Levi knew those guns too well. They were the guns Kenny and his police used after all. He had been at the end of that muzzle enough times to last a lifetime.</p><p><em>These hostage takers are amateurs. </em>Levi had to admit, Hange probably would have been fine in this situation even if he didn’t show up.</p><p>“Where are your hostages.” Levi did not need to focus on the guns. Even if the men dove for them, Levi was sure they wouldn’t be able to shoot them.</p><p>Levi heard a kick behind him and one of the men nervously made his way beside Levi. “Over here… er sir.”</p><p>He was led to a dark room at the end of the hall. He kicked the door open, not bothering to wait for the man next to him to get the key.</p><p>The door opened to a room with many empty chairs lined up, one of them occupied by someone, someone Levi recognized almost instantly by the large belly and the fact that he had been seeing that face everyday for the past five years of his life.</p><p>Hange was there, sitting on a chair her hands tied behind her. As she looked up at them, Levi could see she had a face of overexaggerated terror for a while. For that split second, she was faking it. Levi had known her enough to know that. Within that second, it had twisted into something else, guilt and possibly actual terror.</p><p>“Levi… it’s nice to see you here,” She said. Levi had been with her enough to see that was the terror she exuded when she knew she had done something wrong.</p><p>“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at home?” Levi kept his voice cool, calm, feigning an expression of fake surprise. He was sure Hange would see through it. In fact, he wanted her to see through it.</p><p>“I would have been home by noon.”</p><p>“Answer the fucking question.”</p><p>Hange avoided his gaze. “The fireworks. I wanted to make sure they got to the capital safely.”</p><p>“You are an eight month pregnant woman on fucking leave. Why the fuck can’t you leave this to Armin.” He asked in the form of a statement. A statement he very much wanted her to reflect on.</p><p>“Armin and Mikasa are on a business trip to Marley. Besides, these are the expensive fireworks <em>I </em>ordered,” Hange explained. A shitty explanation which Levi refused to buy.</p><p>“The expensive fireworks <em>Paradis </em>ordered. We’re going home.” He approached Hange, ready to cut up the ropes behind her only to see there was nothing tying her to the chair. <em>Of course. The others had gotten away. And the only person who could have helped them was Hange. </em></p><p>He noticed their means of escape in the form of a vent. It was closed yet, somehow Levi could tell it had been disturbed by its relative cleanliness when compared to the room that was covered in a layer of dust.</p><p>For a second, he had considered going out through there. The layer of dust and the large belly of Hange only made it a not too appealing option. “We’re going out through the front door and----”</p><p><em>And we’re leaving the rest to the police. They should be competent enough to arrest them at least.</em> Levi would have wanted to say. That was until he heard the sound of gunshots.</p><p>
  <em>Not the gunshots from the old military police guns. Those are the police guns. </em>
</p><p>“We surrender!”</p><p>The next thing he heard was an explosion then unfamiliar pops.</p><p>“The fireworks!” It was Hange who had answered that question of what that popping was. From seeing her crestfallen face, Levi was sure she had not intended to answer his question.</p><p>“We’re going out through the vent then.” He pulled Hange from her seat, making a silent apology to the baby inside her. “Can you hold your stomach in?” A dumb question to ask his pregnant wife but Levi was desperate.</p><p>It turned out though she didn’t need to squeeze her way through. The vent had been big enough for her to fit through without having to hold her stomach in.</p><p><em>And Hange should have known that. </em>Hange wasn’t an idiot. In fact, Levi was sure she had better spatial reasoning skills than him, seeing as she had been in charge of the recent infrastructural developments over the years.</p><p>When he had carried her far away enough from the fire and the consequent blast, he had started to understand why she had been so adamant not to leave in the first place.</p><p>“The fireworks!” Hange was kneeling on the grass, a safe distance away from the blast and sobbing. “We paid so much for this Levi… This was supposed to be our first New Years celebration…” The intelligible words devolved into babble and Levi wondered whether that kind of emotional stress would be good for the baby.</p><p><em>At least, the hostage takers had gotten out safely. </em>Levi thought, a desperate attempt to see light in the situation.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“So let me get this straight. You stayed behind on purpose?” It had been a good few hours since the incident and it still took Levi some effort to talk to her calmly. Levi understood at least that he had a duty not to cause her any more stress especially right after what had happened.</p><p>She had shut herself in the room for a good hour or so as soon as they had gotten back. Levi had made sure to check on her a few times since then since she was almost as quiet as that pillow that had pretended to be Hange that morning. By evening, her face was still red and her eyes swollen.</p><p>To Levi’s relief, she had replied, a significant improvement from her catatonic state. “We were looking forward to some grand festivities and those fireworks were expensive.…” Hange mentioned the cost of the fireworks and Levi was sure that amount was the fund of the survey corps for one year.</p><p>With the price of the fireworks, he was somehow starting to sympathize at least. “You sure we don’t need to go to the hospital?” He asked, his voice a little gentler.</p><p>“No, it’s okay I’m fine.”</p><p>Levi did believe her. She had little to no scratches on her and she was still walking normally at least. It was her almost catatonic state which troubled him. He could give that until the next day. “We still have next year for fireworks,” he said, an attempt to comfort her.</p><p>A moment later, he started to hear the familiar popping. “Is that fireworks? I thought they got destroyed?”</p><p>“Yeah, those are the normal fireworks. The ones I wanted to see were the expensive ones I ordered last year.”</p><p><em>So we had fireworks already? </em>Levi found himself moving to the kitchen mechanically, with the one goal of making himself a cup of tea. If he allowed himself any emotion then, he probably could have strangled Hange at that moment. “If you wanna see the fireworks, you can go down.” Just another precaution, he set for himself so at least he was a safe distance from her</p><p>The kitchen was near the window and although they were in one of the upper floors, he should be able to hear Hange’s footsteps as long as the windows were open and he concentrated enough.</p><p>The tea was calming and it kept him more alert to Hange’s footsteps. Just in case she did something else stupid. He wasn’t at all feeling trusting that particular night.</p><p>He had expected to hear footsteps, leather on wood or cement. For a few minutes, that was what he was hearing.</p><p>A few minutes later, he heard something he hadn’t expected to hear at all. In fact it was something he probably wouldn’t have had to listen closely to hear.</p><p>A loud squeak then a surprised scream from Hange.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The last place Levi would have expected to spend New Years was in the hospital.</p><p>He had expected Hange to have done things during her pregnancy which would have ended up with a hospital visit. Never in his life would he have thought that it would have been from a rat bite and it would have been eight months into her pregnancy during New Years day.</p><p>“I tried to sit on the dumpster because it had the best view and there was a rat there...” Hange explained to the doctor from her bed in the emergency room.</p><p>Levi had stayed silent as Hange went into detail. He tried to tune it out himself, knowing ‘bitten by a rat’ was all he needed to hear for his whole body to shudder. Being drenched in titan’s blood seemed like a better alternative.</p><p>“I recommend you stay overnight. We’re uhh… going to have to talk to some doctors in Marley about this. I don’t think we’ve ever had a case of a woman getting bitten by a rat in her third term. We’ll have the nurse set you up with a room.” With that, the doctor left and it was just Hange and Levi together in that little corner of the emergency room.</p><p>Hange lay back on the hospital bed, her belly making a giant hill on top of her. It was so unnaturally large that Levi realized he wouldn’t be too surprised if the baby came out at any moment.</p><p>“You know Levi, I think he enjoyed today. He was kicking my belly back in the warehouse,” Hange quipped playfully as she rubbed her belly. Levi noted that the line that connected to Hange’s hand must have been some sort of painkiller or sleep drought. Hange’s smiling face was a brief respite from her crying face that afternoon, even if it was medicine-induced.</p><p>“Or maybe he thought you were a complete idiot.”</p><p>“You know… When I heard the window crash, the baby kicked harder… I think he knew daddy was coming to save us.”</p><p>“Or maybe he knew mommy didn’t need saving after all.” Levi returned her playful smile with a glare.</p><p>“Hey, you had fun. It was just like the old days...”</p><p><em>Fun?  </em>Levi wouldn’t have used that word at all. Getting shot at and being almost eaten on a regular basis wasn’t fun. Not knowing when you would die wasn’t fun. As Hange had mentioned the word ‘old days,’ Levi did start to realize he had been a little disappointed to see the men hadn’t shot at him.</p><p>He put a hand to his forehead. “Do I actually miss fighting?” He pressed harder into his forehead as if that action was enough to push some sanity back into his brain. <em>No one should be missing a war. </em>“Hey Hange, do you miss it?” He wanted to search for some assurance at least that he wasn’t the only one slightly insane.</p><p>He looked back at Hange to see the latter had dozed off, her face fixed into a warm comfortable smile, her hand resting on her belly.</p><p>He didn’t know how long he had been staring. It could have been minutes or hours. His trance though had been broken by one greeting of “Happy New Year!” then a few soft cheers and some light clapping. Levi wasn’t too worried that Hange would wake up. She looked to be in a deep sleep.</p><p>Levi put his hand on hers, and even with one hand beneath his and the belly, he still felt it, a light small kick. <em>He’s coming out soon. </em></p><p>He leaned close to her ear, taking in the rare sounds of her relaxed breathing before he whispered his own greeting. “Happy New Year… Next year we’ll see the fireworks together, all three of us.”</p><p>It was a promise only he would have remembered. But it was a promise he vowed to keep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was pretty much inspired by my mom's pregnancy story.  She managed to safely birth my sister after getting held up at gunpoint and getting bitten by a rat late into her pregnancy. My sister surprisingly turned out okay... I guess?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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